Undecided Democrats hide from Tea Party activists

Dave Walker wasn’t happy when he showed up to Rep. Jason Altmire’s office to plead with the Pennsylvania congressman over President Obama’s health-care bill.The Democratic lawmaker’s office was a popular destination for the more than 1,000 Tea Partiers who stormed Capitol Hill Tuesday morning because Altmire, an original no-vote for the bill, is viewed as a potential vote switcher.
Walker — who showed up to the office after a 12-hour bus ride with fellow activists from Ocala, Fla. — became agitated when a nervous-yet-dutiful Altmire intern told him he didn’t know if the congressman was in the office and would take down Walker’s information instead.
Even though Democratic leadership sent out a memo yesterday instructing freshman and sophomore House Democrats to be hospitable to the activists — and serve coffee and snacks — Tea Partiers had a hard time getting face time with the actual no-vote Democrat members.
Karen Powers took vacation time off from work in Revenna, Ohio, to lobby Congress, stopping by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office first as a “symbolic move” before moving onto other offices.
“We had no expectations of seeing her,” Powers admitted after the receptionist in Pelosi’s office just had her fill out a visitor log.Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Mark Meckler, standing outside the Canon House Office Building, said activists dead-set on meeting with no-vote members took the tunnels and cafeteria’s inside the hallways in search of the representatives.